


Marionette

by Icarus (Slickarus)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (eventually) - Freeform, F/M, LadyNoir - Freeform, Mind Control, The ladybug powers switch hands, identities revealed, possible minor language?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-07 07:38:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5448569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slickarus/pseuds/Icarus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien and Marinette are both itching for a new foe to fight, but their prayers are answered in an unexpected way. When Ladybug comes under the control of the powerful Master Puppeteer, the only one who can save her is Chat Noir. That is- if he can get his powers back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“If you don’t call him, I will,” Alya said, putting her hands on her hips. She was in Marinette’s bedroom, and Marinette was sprawled on the bed, phone in hand. “And I’ll even use my best impression,” she switched to a higher, girlier voice. “Oh, Adrien, I was just walking by some flowers today when I thought about how beautiful you are. Will you marry me so we can be together forever?”

“Shut up,” Marinette grumbled. “What do I even say to him?”

“Well, you could say that.” Marinette leveled a look at her. “Kidding. Just ask him to the movies. There has to be something you’ve been meaning to see, right?”

“Ok. I can do this.” Marinette pressed Adrien’s contact number and held her phone to her ear while Alya gave her a silent thumbs-up.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end said. Marinette nearly dropped her phone out of shock, but quickly recovered.

“Adrien? This...er...what I mean to say is...uhh…”

“It’s okay Marinette, I know it’s you,” Adrien replied smoothly.

“What-huh-how?” Marinette covered the mouthpiece with her hand and squealed at Alya.

“You’re in my contacts, so I could see who was calling. What’s up?” Alya gave Marinette an encouraging look to continue.

“I, uh, I wanted to ask you…”

“Keep going,” said Alya.

“Ask you…if...if you could tell me the physics homework.” Alya smacked herself in the face and flopped down on the bed.

“Me? Why didn’t you ask Alya?” Oh no, Marinette thought. Was he mad that she called him?

“Because, er, she was busy. She wouldn’t pick up her phone, so I tried you instead.”

“Okay then. Anyway, it’s just the worksheet that we got in class. Anything else you need?”

“Ask him!” Alya hissed.

“No, that was it,” Marinette said. “Thank you.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, and hung up. Alya patted Marinette’s shoulder supportively.

“Next time?”

“Yeah, next time.”

 

* * *

 

Adrien put his phone down on his desk and tapped a pencil against his temple, trying to focus on his homework. His mind began to wander instead. Out of all the people in his class, he was surprised that Marinette had forgotten the homework. He didn’t know much about her, but he knew she was very organized and a hard worker. He swiveled around in his chair at the sound of a quiet groaning coming from his sports bag.

“Plagg, what do you want now?” His kwami tried to fly towards him but instead plopped down onto the floor.

“Relief. If you wanted to know how much camembert to bring me, that was the right amount.” Earlier that afternoon, Adrien had brought home the biggest box of the cheese that he could find. Plagg ate the whole thing in under a minute (Adrien timed it).

“I gave you that to give you energy, not to make you tired,” Adrien groaned. “How am I supposed to fight evil when my powers are sluggish from eating too much?” Plagg belched in response.

“Who says you’re going to be fighting evil anytime soon? Or are you just looking for a chance to see her?” Adrien blushed.

“It’s not like she likes me in that way. Ah, I guess I’ll just have to settle for an unrequited love.”

“I’ve told you a million times, you Romeo, all you need to do is tell her how you feel. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“I’ve tried, but every time I go to tell her I just get interrupted. It’s no use, I guess we’re just not destined to be together.”

“Are you crazy? What, do you think she hates you? She has to like you a lot if she puts up with your useless ass.”

“Who are you calling useless? I bet you couldn’t get up if you tried.”

“That’s not true,” Plagg protested. He tried to get up from his spot on the floor, but only made it a few centimeters before he dropped again. “Hold on, I almost have it!” Adrien laughed.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait until the next time evil strikes to see how she feels.”

 

Adrien didn’t have to wait long.

 

* * *

 

Joseph had been having a rough day. After being laid off by his company, who was looking to downsize, the only thing he had to look forward to were his shows. He whistled as he took his black trunk out of his car and carried it into the theater; one of the posters outside boasting his show. He waved to the theater manager on his way in, who was wearing a gloomy expression.

“Are we looking at a big crowd tonight, Adam?” Adam shook his head.

“No one has reserved tickets for tonight, so the owner decided that we need to cancel the show to save money.”

“But...won’t there be walk-ins?”

“Joseph, your puppets have had low attendance for weeks now. There won’t be many, if any at all. You will have the night off tonight.” He smiled sympathetically at him. “We’ll be sure to call you as soon as we know what will happen with the rest of your performances.” Adam walked out of the theater.

Joseph sighed and pulled one of the puppets out of the trunk. It was one of his favorites, a marionette a smiling boy. His father had given it to him when he taught little Joseph the art of making puppets.

“I guess you won’t be going on tonight. Such a shame. I had a good set planned.” Joseph picked up a wooden puppet cross that had fallen to the floor. He slumped down to sit. “Such a shame.” In his sadness, he didn’t notice the little black butterfly that came and settled onto the cross.

 

* * *

 

Marinette clicked refresh on the news page for what felt like the billionth time. She couldn’t remember the last time she had gotten to be Ladybug, so she was anxiously awaiting her next opportunity by checking and and re-checking a news site.

“This is never going to work,” she groaned to Tikki.

“Maybe we need to go out and check for ourselves,” the kwami suggested. “After all, don’t you discover most of the akuma victims while you’re out and about?”

“You’re right, as usual.” Marinette grabbed her purse and dashed downstairs, giving her father a peck on the cheek on the way out. “I’ll be home soon!”

Marinette scanned the streets for suspicious activity as she walked. This used to be easy. She sort of wished Alya were here; she always had a knack for sniffing out trouble. Marinette pulled out her phone.

“Alya! Where are you right now?”

“You’ll never guess! I was just about to call you.”

“What’s going on?”

“I think there’s a new akuma victim! I’m at the Eiffel-” the line went silent.

“Alya? Alya!” Marinette shoved her phone in her purse.

“Well you were right that she’d find something for you,” Tikki said.

“We need to transform. I hope nothing’s happened to her.” Marinette ducked into an alleyway and within seconds, Ladybug was bounding across the rooftops toward the scene of the action.

   

* * *

 

She arrived to see dozens of people acting very strangely (Marinette was relieved to see that there was less of a tourist crowd than usual; it wasn’t the season). Some of the people were setting up rows of chairs, some were sitting in the chairs rigidly, and some were standing around a man who Marinette quickly recognized as the akuma victim. He was wearing all black- black shoes, black pants, black tie, black jacket, and a black cap on his head. He was holding a giant red cross-shaped...thing that Marinette didn’t recognize. He would point it at someone, shoot a blast of red light, and then they’d follow where his fingers pointed.

“Mind control? On this scale? He’s one of the most powerful victims I’ve ever seen. I’m going to have to be careful.” She wished Chat would hurry up and arrive. They always worked better together.

With no Chat in sight, though, she had to handle this herself. She used her yo-yo to grapple up to the tower so that she might have a better vantage point for her sneak attack. She swung down and kicked the victim swiftly in the back of the head.

“It’s time for you to stop!” She announced as he stumbled to his feet.

“Ah, Ladybug, I’m afraid you underestimate the strength of the Master Puppeteer,” he said. Ladybug had to focus on defending herself from the oncoming spellbound citizens being directed at her. “I’m sure you’ll make an excellent puppet. And look,” he said as she used her yo-yo to fend off advancers, “you’ve already got the strings.” He aimed the cross at her and fired, but she dodged it just barely.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” She jumped to dodge another blast.

“If no one will come to my puppet show, I’ll have to make one that no one can ignore!” He roared, firing again. “Tonight, the citizens of Paris should prepare for the unforgettable human puppet show- starring them!” Ladybug needed to think. If she could just have a moment to use her Lucky Charm, she was sure she could get rid of the Master Puppeteer easily. She thought she had an open moment and reached for her belt, but there were too many people after her. They grabbed her arms and she struggled against them, but to no avail. Oh, where was Chat?

“Now you will not be so flighty, my little Ladybug,” the Master Puppeteer cackled. He shot her with his ray and just like that, she went stiff. “You will give me your earrings, Ladybug,” he instructed. She nodded and reached for them, but froze when the Master Puppeteer became occupied with a vision of Hawkmoth.

“Wait,” he said. “Maybe you can use her to kill two birds with one stone. Or rather, get two stones with one bug,” Hawkmoth chuckled. Master Puppeteer put his hand out to stop Ladybug from taking off her earrings.

“Why don’t we make this interesting?” He said. “Ladybug, find Chat Noir and take his ring- then give it to me.”

“It will be done,” she said.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Adrien takes on more responsibility than ever before, and learns something that changes his world.

Adrien would have come earlier, honestly. It’s just that fencing class was particularly interesting today, as he was learning a new move, and he intentionally forgot to go check his phone every half-hour like he usually did. It would be fine, he reasoned, the group break was only fifteen minutes away. To make up for it, he dashed to his locker and pulled out his phone, fingers flying to check the news. Just as he feared: another akuma. He shoved Plagg in his pocket and rushed outside, mumbling through some half-assed excuse about why his father needed him. Within moments, Chat Noir was bolting across the rooftops of Paris to go fight evil once more.

He landed on a rooftop as close to the tower as he could. After all, he didn’t want to be too obvious in his approach. He pulled out his staff and noticed that Ladybug was coming towards him on his tracker. Seconds later, he heard the familiar sound of her whizzing up to him with her yo-yo.

“Ah, you’ve found me, my lady.”

“It took you long enough. Where were you? I was worried.”

“Worried about me? I’m flattered. Shall we go and stop the victim?” He extended his hand towards her.

“I’m afraid he’s more powerful than we’re used to. He has incredibly strong mind-controlling powers. I’ve been waiting for you because I don’t know if I can take him on my own.”

“Well, fear not, your prince has arrived. Do you have a plan in mind?” She shook her head.

“We need to come up with one, but first,” she looked around, “we need to find someplace private; anyone could be under his control.” Chat nodded. He took her hand and swung down into an empty apartment that seemed to be under renovation.

“What did you have  in mind  for stopping this guy?” He grinned at his own pun.

“Wait, there’s something I wanted to do first,” she said, moving towards him. He could feel his heartbeat speeding up.

“And that is?” He managed to say. She smiled at him in a way he almost couldn’t recognize; she looked so unlike herself. Still smiling, she took both his hands in hers.

“This.” She slipped off his ring and his eyes went wide as he transformed back into himself. 

“What-” but she had already turned around and was heading for the window. He lunged at her and managed to grab her yo-yo; she didn’t even notice. It was like she was under some kind of spell. Maybe she was being controlled! If that was true, at least, she wouldn’t remember his identity when the akuma was cleansed. But Ladybug was the only one who could save everyone from the akuma! Adrien cast out the yo-yo and it wrapped around Ladybug, causing her to fall to the floor instead of climbing back out the window.

Adrien grabbed his ring from her hand and reached for her earrings, but then had a thought. If he took them off, she’d still be under the villain’s control. He had to keep her from going out there and endangering her identity. He looked around the apartment and found a closet with a door that locket. He grabbed her earrings, shut his eyes, and shoved her inside. Once he was sure the door was closed, he opened his eyes and locked it. Whoever was inside was banging on the door, but Adrien was pretty sure that no ordinary girl could break down a door, even if she  was Ladybug.

“You do realize you’re going to have to let her out after all this,” Plagg said, floating up to Adrien’s shoulder height.

“Yeah, but I’ve got bigger things to worry about,” he said as he slid his ring back onto his hand. “Ladybug’s the only one who can cleanse the akuma and undo this whole mess. If she couldn’t do it, how am I supposed to save everyone?”

“You can become ladybug!” A small, feminine voice said. It was coming from a little red thing floating in the air next to Adrien.

“Who are you?”

“I’m the ladybug kwami, and my name is Tikki. Mar- I mean, Ladybug is under the Puppet Master’s control, but I’m not.”

“The Puppet Master?” The akuma nodded.

“I heard everything. He wants to put on a human puppet show under the tower tonight! You have to stop him.”

“How?”

“I can enter your ring, just like your kwami can, and give you all the ladybug powers. That way, you can stop the akuma and free Ladybug.” Adrien looked at Plagg.

“Do you think this will work?” He shrugged.

“It’s worth a shot.”

“Okay then,” said Adrien, “Tikki, transform me!”

Turning into Ladybug felt similar to his usual transformation, but some things were different. He noted the yo-yo at his hip, and his head felt bare without the twin cat ears. It was certainly different to be wearing a red-and-black suit (luckily it wasn’t the same size as his Ladybug’s, though).

“Plagg, make sure no one comes up here and finds her,” he instructed his kwami.

“Yeah, sure, have fun.”

Adrien leapt out of the window and headed toward the tower. There were many more people there than before. As soon as Adrien saw the akuma victim, he knew that it was him (thanks to Tikki, no doubt.) Adrien perched on the tower just above the victim’s head.

“Alright, we’re going to have to make this quick,” he said to himself. “Lucky charm!” He copied the motions that he had seen Ladybug do all those times, and in return, a black-spotted red vase fell into his hands. “How does she always do this? Let’s see.” He looked around, and suddenly the plan became clear in his mind.

First, he wrapped the yo-yo around a beam on the tower. He needed to get the big mind-ray out of the Puppet master’s hands somehow, but if he swung down he’d be spotted immediately. He dropped the vase behind the Puppet Master, who heard the crash and spun around as his victims swarmed around the source of the noise. Perfect. Andrien swung down and planted a firm kick on the Puppet Master’s back, causing him to lose his balance and fall flat on his face. The ray slipped out of his hands and landed a few feet in front of him.

Adrien noticed something dark-looking in his back pocket, so he grabbed it. It was a wooden puppet cross, kind of like the one the Puppet Master had been firing. Adrien snapped it in half and, sure enough, a dark butterfly fluttered out.

“Alright!” Adrien said. He used the yo-yo to cleanse the akuma and release the little white butterfly. Adrien found the pieces of the vase and tossed them up into the air, hoping that Ladybug’s cleansing magic would be enough to take care of everything so he could go back and help Ladybug- whoever she was.

Adrien’s ring beeped, and he transformed back into himself on the roof so that whoever was in the closet wouldn’t hear him.

“Thanks for your help, Tikki,” he said, holding her in his hands. “I couldn’t have figured this out without you.”

“Don’t mention it, Adrien,” she yawned.

“Wait, you know who I am?” Tikki bolted upright.

“You didn’t hear it from me,” she said.

“Can you go back in there and transform her back into Ladybug? I don’t want to compromise her identity if I don’t have to.” Tikki shook her head.

“I don’t have the strength to do that right now.” Tikki fluttered up and through the window.

“Well then,” Adrien said. “I guess I get to find out.” The guilt he felt was overcome by excitement as he found Plagg and transformed back into Chat Noir. Whoever was still inside was banging on the door and crying out for help. He took a deep breath and unlocked the door.

“Oh thank goodness, I didn’t think anyone could hear me!” Adrien nearly opened his mouth in shock. Marinette...was Ladybug? The cute, shy girl who was always so nice to him was the same girl he’d been pining for all this time. He couldn’t believe his luck.

“Ah, so it’s you, princess,” he purred, quickly regaining his cool demeanor. “I heard someone in here and I had to check that it wasn’t another akuma victim.”

“Chat Noir? What happened? What am I doing in here?” Now that his images of Marinette and Ladybug were fusing, he had a tough time keeping up with the conversation.

“I’m afraid that’s classified information, but if you give me a kiss, I’m sure I could tell you.” She rolled her eyes- there was the Ladybug.

“No, it’s alright. Could you help me get home?”

“It would be my pleasure, princess.”

 

Adrien would have a lot to think about tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will probably be only one or two chapters after this (we still have to deal with Adrien at school) but once again I'd love to hear what you think and thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took forever, but here it is! The final part! Don't forget to comment/kudos if you enjoyed it, I really appreciate every one of them.

“Stop hitting your head against the wall, it’s making  _ my  _ brain hurt!” Adrien glared at his kwami.

“Did you know? This whole time?” Plagg shrugged.

“It’s not the hardest thing to figure out. I’m surprised it took you this long.” Adrien groaned. He was such an idiot.  _ Of course _ Marinette was Ladybug. They were both so kind, so strong, and so...beautiful. “Why are you beating yourself up over it? Now that you know it’s her, all you have to do is ask her out.”

“It’s not that easy, Plagg. For starters, what if she doesn’t even like me?” Plagg rolled his eyes.

“Talk to her then. The next best thing would be to be friends.” Plagg stuck out his tongue. “Honestly, you’re making me sick.”

“I think I’ll talk to Nino.”

“Yeah, sure, take the advice of that birdbrain over me.” Adrien ignored him and dialed his number on the phone.

“Hey, dude, what’s up?”

“Nino, hey. Listen, you’re friends with Marinette, right?” Nino made a noise on the other end that Adrien didn’t quite understand. “What was that?”

“Nothing. Yeah, I am, but so are you.”

“I know, I know. Is she...into anyone?” Another noise.

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, is she?” Nino snorted.

“Wait...do you like her?” Adrien blushed, glad that they were having this conversation over the phone. “You do, don’t you!”

“I...I mean…”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to say it.” Nino’s voice lowered, like he was about to tell Adrien a secret. “Okay, you didn’t hear this from me, but...you should totally go for it, dude.”

“You mean it?”

“Yeah. You’ll thank me later.”

“Okay. Okay. Thanks, dude.”

“Anytime. See you tomorrow.”

 

Marinette watched the video footage of the akuma attack again, just to make sure she was seeing clearly. A red masked hero defeated the akuma, but she had no idea who it was.

“Tikki, why can’t you tell me what happened?” 

“I’m sorry Marinette, but it’s not my place to tell.”

“But that’s you, isn’t it? And who’s the boy? Tikki?” Her tiny kwami had gone silent. Marinette squinted at the screen. “Is that...is that  _ Chat _ ?”

“Looks like it’s time for school! We don’t want to be late, Marinette!”

“Tikki!” Marinette checked the clock. It  _ was _ time for class. “Fine, but you tell me later.”

 

Marinette slid into her seat just in time for her first class. She took meticulous notes, trying to distract herself from the mysterious attack yesterday. She was so focused that she almost didn’t notice when a certain blond classmate of hers tapped her on the shoulder.

Almost.

“Hey, Marinette, I was wondering what you’re doing for lunch today?” She turned in her seat and immediately started blushing.

“Adrien! I was just - you- eating - house- my-” she took a second to compose herself. “I was planning to eat at home. Why?”

“Would you want to go out to lunch with me? There’s this great new place I know…” Marinette turned to Alya, who was nearly leaping out of her seat with excitement.

“Um, uh,” Marinette stammered. She’d always dreamed that a day like this would come, but she was completely unprepared now that it was actually happening. Where was that Ladybug confidence when she needed it!

“She’d love to!” Alya practically sang, turning Marinette’s shoulders back towards Adrien. “I’d come too, but unfortunately-”

“-We have a project to work on together,” Nino finished, tossing a wink Alya’s way. “Sorry I can’t come as well.”

“Well then, it’ll just be you and me, Marinette. Is that okay?” Marinette gulped down her anxiety.

“Yes, I’d love to come.”

 

_ Three weeks later _

 

Marinette was in her bedroom working on a new pattern for a jacket. Nothing too fancy, but it was pink and soft and would be good for the coming winter months. Her phone buzzed twice and she picked up, spinning around to face the window.

“MARINETTE!” Alya practically screamed into the mouthpiece. “Nino won’t stop texting me, is it true?”

“Is what true?”

“That you and Adrien are  _ dating _ . Nino says he asked you out yesterday!” Marinette blushed. Honestly, she still couldn’t believe it. She and Adrien had been friends for a while, but in the past two weeks since they went out for lunch together, they’d grown so much closer. Sometimes they’d hung out with Alya and Nino, but it was mostly just the two of them.

“Did Adrien tell him?”

“So you ARE dating! I knew it! How did it happen?” Marinette recounted the story of how Adrien had sputtered through asking her, even bringing flowers for effect. He hadn’t needed them, obviously, but the gesture was so sweet and thoughtful that Marinette turned bright red and was silent for almost a minute before she responded.

“I knew it,” Alya repeated. “When’s the wedding?” Marinette was about to defend herself when there was a knock on her window.

“Hold on Alya, I’ve got to go. My mom’s calling me.”

“Alright,” she giggled. “Talk to you later.” Marinette walked curiously over to her window to discover-

“Chat Noir!” She exclaimed. She unlatched the window to let the feline superhero in. “What are you doing here?”

“I just thought I’d pay my princess a visit,” he said as he strolled onto her carpet. Marinette rolled her eyes, hard, but smiled anyway. “I never did forget your bravery,” he grinned at her, “or your face.”

“Thanks, kitty, but you’d better quit that kind of talk.” Chat mock-gasped.

“What do you mean?”

“I have...I have a boyfriend now. I’m sure he wouldn’t like to see you talking to me that way.” Adrien almost laughed out loud.

“How do you know?” He asked. “Maybe he’d think it was the  _ purr _ fect opportunity to meet me.” Chat Noir hesitated before continuing. “There’s something I need to tell you, princess. It’s only fair.”

“I also have something I need to talk to you about,” Marinette admitted.

“Oh, then, you can go first.”

“Um...on the day that you saved me from that closet, what happened? I’ve watched the news footage, but I can’t seem to understand it. Who was that boy?” Chat Noir sighed.

“That relates to something I need to tell you. On that day, when Ladybug was under the akuma’s spell, I had to borrow her kwami to save the city. It was the only way to purify that akuma.”

“So in order to do that...you must have seen her.” Marinette stared at the floor.

“What do you think...My Lady?” Chat turned her head to face his. “I’m sorry, it was the only way.”

“I know, I just…”

“Let me make it up to you,” Chat Noir said. He extended his hand (or rather, paw) towards her. She eyed his ring, where she knew his miraculous was. “Do you trust me?”

Marinette looked at his ring, at his eyes, and that familiar smile.

“Of course I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is it! I might post some timestamps/epilogue stuff at some point, but this completes the story. Thank you for all your kudos and kind words. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Until next time!

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so this fic will feel a lot like an episode (hopefully) and it might be the first thing I finish that has a substantial story. I took some liberties with the rules of the universe, for example, by making the akuma victim crazy powerful. Ok? I just wanted to set up a mind-controlled!Ladybug situation to fulfill my ladynoir dreams. Ever since I have started watching this show I've been trash for it. Please let me know if you like it and I'll do my best to update ASAP


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